Society

Public transport key to better traffic

By Quan Li (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-12-15 16:26

Boosting public transport is the fundamental resolution to ease traffic pressure in Beijing, according to Professor Zhang Zhuting, a member of the legal consulting committee of the Ministry of Transport.

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Statistics show residents in Beijing spend more time commuting than elsewhere nationwide, pushing the traffic issue high on the agenda for the capital, according to CRI Online.

Authorities should provide more rights to public transport with legal policy, said Zhang. On a four-lane road, one lane should be specially allocated for public convenience and two at rush hours, he maintained.

Although the expense of using public vehicles has reached the lowest level throughout the country, many citizens still complain about taking buses in Beijing. “It takes 30 to 40 minutes’ walk before getting to a bus stop under some circumstances”, said Yang Xinmiao, a researcher at the Institute of Transportation Engineering of Tsinghua University in Beijing. Some citizens also blame the inconvenience on excessively long waiting times.

Increasing the transport capacity and speeding up construction of traffic infrastructure can encourage more people to use public traffic vehicles, said professor Zhang. “And thus the pressure of traffic can be basically alleviated.”